Video Related To: Adoption apology 'long time coming'

The Government needs to acknowledge the role it played in unmarried women being forced to adopt their babies, the Labour Party says. Tens of thousands of young, unmarried Kiwi mums gave up their children between the 1940s and 1970s, saying they were forced by the pressures of society and the state. The same thing was also happening across the Tasman and a senate inquiry yesterday called for the Australian Government to apologise and compensate thousands of unwed mothers who were forced to give up their babies. However, Justice Minister Judith Collins said the situation in New Zealand was different and the state had no official part in influencing mothers to give up their babies. "At the end of the day this was a decision that was made by their family members, and frankly society frowned very deeply on unwed mothers," Collins told TV ONE's Close Up last night. But, Labour MP Lianne Dalziel told TV ONE's Breakfast that the societal pressure and the family pressure was very real at the time and she said this needs to be acknowledged. "But I think the state did play a role and it does deserve some investigation here, and I think to ask for an apology I don't think that is an unreasonable thing to ask for," she said. 'Women commit suicide over this' One mother wants the secrets which have shrouded the issue for years to be exposed. Some members of Merilyn McAuslin's own family are not even aware she had a child adopted, and she told Close Up she has gone through the rest of <b>...</b>